In 2003, The Joint Commission launched the National Patient Safety Goals “to help accredited organizations address specific areas of concern regarding patient safety” (The Joint Commission, n.d.). These goals outlined important areas such as identification, communication, medications, surgeries, and alarm systems. In 2020, The Joint Commission updated these goals by adding more details to the existing ones and adding more goals such as safety risks and infections (The Joint Commission, 2020). The updates included adding methods of identification for newborns, reporting critical results on a timely basis, in depth safety procedures for medication uses, what to include in a policy for alarm systems, compliance with hand hygiene to reduce infections, and identifying safety risks such as reducing the risk of suicide. The focus of the goals has changed by moving toward a more evidence based and policy-based goal outlook. Some conditions that may have caused this shift are an increase in legal cases against health care professionals. The increase of legal cases in healthcare can cause a need for more evidence based and policy-based goals because those are more likely to hold up in court when they are followed. In 2025, The Joint Commission also added to the National Patient Safety Goals by adding health care equity improvement. This was likely driven by the inequities in healthcare that were caused in the past.

The Joint Commission. (n.d.). National Patient Safety Goals Fact Sheet.

https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/news-and-multimedia/fact-sheets/facts-about-national-patient-safety-goals/

The Joint Commission. (2020). National Patient Safety Goals Effective January 2020.

https://m.thenurseagency.com/uploads/1/1/2/0/112045729/jcaho_npsg_2020.pdf